MKOI Alphari: "Myrwn has a very high ceiling, and creativity is one of his biggest strengths. I don't want to restrain it"

Despite a setback against Shifters, Movistar KOI sit at 2–1 in the 2026 League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) Versus. After retaining their roster and building on their successes from 2025, the nearly all-Spanish lineup continues its rise on the European stage, with ambitions of lifting the trophy once again. In an exclusive interview with Sheep Esports, the team’s new assistant coach, Barney "Alphari" Morris, discusses his return to competitive play, what he aims to bring to the squad, and the path toward turning Myrwn into Europe’s strongest toplaner.

Barney "Alphari" Morris: "It’s nice to have won the first two games. It gives me increased confidence in the team because I hadn’t seen them perform on stage before. This is my first week actually seeing them play on stage.

In our game against Karmine Corp, I was quite impressed with our mid-game and, in general, our players' composure on stage. That’s the main takeaway for me. I wasn’t sure how they would play on stage since I’d only seen them in scrims, and it’s very different. There can be underperformance, draft confusion, tension, or a lack of cohesion, but I didn’t really see much of that.

Obviously, there were some misplays, but overall the G2 game was fine. I think we played well, though they also didn’t play to their usual level. In this game, it felt more like they just got outplayed in the mid-game, which came from us playing well. I was pleasantly impressed.

Alphari: It hasn’t felt too different. The main change is that I’m on site all the time. When I was working with BrokenBlade, it was remote, so I was just at home. Now, I’m around the team all the time, and I guess that means being more immersed in League of Legends aswell. Because of that, I can offer input on other aspects, not just toplane. I’m a bit more focused on team macro or drafts, but I still mainly focus on the same things: lane phase and specifically working with Myrwn.

I guess the biggest difference is just being there in person, being around everyone, and getting back into the rhythm of full scrim days in an office. Talking to each player, getting their perspectives, and doing things that way. The actual coaching itself isn’t that different. At the end of the day, it’s just talking about League of Legends, and particularly top lane, so it doesn’t really change that much.

Alphari: I definitely missed the competition, especially in the latter half of last year compared to when I stopped playing. When I stopped, I really wasn’t enjoying what I was doing. I hadn’t enjoyed League for the last year or two while playing professionally, but now I have a lot more joy for it, and my perspective has changed quite a bit.

Initially, for many years, it was something I loved — playing League of Legends. Otherwise, I would never have become a pro and played so much. At a certain point, it wasn’t being played for joy anymore; it was just playing to win. That was the main motivation, but then I kept losing, and it became unenjoyable. I also didn’t enjoy solo queue.

Coaching is a new experience, and it’s a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be. I was open to the idea when I was first approached by G2, but I wasn’t sure how much I would enjoy it. It’s enjoyable, and I missed playing competitively.

I think it just took some time. When you do something too much, you lose interest and become desensitized. You need balance: periods of intense work followed by rest. After that rest, I feel recuperated, and for some reason, I’m enjoying League more. I can’t say exactly why.

Alphari: The new season is a lot more fun than previous ones. I really enjoy the format changes that Riot has introduced in the LEC, like the shorter regular season and fearless draft. In my last year on Vitality, it was easy to not feel invested in the regular season games because there were 18 in a season—it just went on too long. Fearless draft makes the game much more fun, and the shorter regular season is brilliant. All of this makes it more enjoyable. I think having a break also helped rekindle my competitive drive.

Alphari: Myrwn has a very high ceiling, which shows in the champions he plays. I’ve only been working with him for less than a month, but having watched him on and off for the past two or three years, one of his big strengths is his creativity in top lane. Creativity in a player is really valuable—you’d much rather have a creative player than one who only plays meta, even if the creative player sometimes overdoes it or makes a misplay on stage. A creative player brings an X factor and something unique to the team.

From what I’ve seen so far, he does have room to grow. He might sometimes overdo his creativity, but I don’t want to restrain it—I want to encourage it while making sure it’s backed by sound reasoning. If there’s any aversion to playing certain meta champions, whether due to preference for wacky counter picks or discomfort on specific champions, that can be fixed. He’s very capable of playing any champion, and we’ll make sure he plays the best champions while still having the freedom to use surprise picks. This weekend, he’s played great even in losing matchups with blind picks, which is very promising.

Alphari: Yeah, in this game, the third dragon was essentially going to decide the match. That flank was a game-winning play. He’s going even against Rumble, which he isn’t really supposed to do, and likewise, with K’Sante against Gnar, he was going even when he normally wouldn’t. He’s taking losing matchups and still outperforming his opponents, which is brilliant. I’m not entirely sure where he still has room to grow, but I assume it’s in playing certain meta champions. We’ll see as we continue working together.

Alphari: A book recommendation? The last book I read, which I really enjoyed, was Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I’d recommend reading that — it was pretty fun. Aside from that, to MKOI fans: you’re great. Love you guys."